WASHINGTON — A Senate committee signaled Wednesday that it plans to proceed with a confirmation hearing for Atty. Gen.-designate Michael B. Mukasey without documents from the White House that it once deemed crucial to investigating suspected abuses under the former attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in a letter to Mukasey on Wednesday that he intended to hold the nominee to a higher standard in light of the Bush administration's refusal to turn over subpoenaed materials about the politically charged firings of nine U.S. attorneys last year and other matters.
Aides said Leahy would continue to press that investigation -- along with an inquiry into dissent within the Justice Department over a warrantless wiretapping program launched after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- even if Mukasey is confirmed.
But Leahy indicated to Mukasey that the lack of cooperation from the administration would not be used to hold up his nomination. The senator proposed that the men meet privately Oct. 16 to discuss the nomination and Mukasey's views on a variety of subjects. Sources said a confirmation hearing could be scheduled as soon as the following day.
"Regrettably, the White House has chosen not to clear the decks of past concerns and not to produce the information and material it should have and could have about the ongoing scandals that have shaken the Department of Justice and led to the exodus of its former leadership," Leahy wrote. "Those matters now encumber your nomination and, if confirmed, your tenure."
Mukasey has garnered broad support from Democrats and Republicans, but his nomination last month by President Bush has become entangled in congressional investigations into allegations of department politicization that drove Gonzales from office.
Leahy's conciliatory approach shows that even Democrats are disinclined to get into a fight with the White House over a nominee they consider to be fair and even-handed, even as the White House has refused to budge in the document tug of war.
The White House pressed the case for swifter action Wednesday.
"Members of the committee have been outspoken about the vacancies [at the Department of Justice], and they have an opportunity to do something about it by confirming him swiftly," Press Secretary Dana Perino said, alluding to the departure of more than a dozen political appointees at the department.
